Comings and Goings

These are just some pictures I like that I've taken in the last few days.  The internet guys finally came this morning.  Our internet has been working today.  I'm hoping it will stay that way this time.  Sure, it's easy to think you just use the internet for Facebook, but when it's gone you realize you threw out the phonebooks and look up stuff online.  Your recipes are all online, and so is your calendar.  So it's good to be back.  I may even get to stream some of a Craftsy class tonight after the kids are in bed if it's still working.

It hasn't just been the internet, though.  Things feel like they're falling apart left and right.  Our piano had a few stuck keys, and it had been ages since it was tuned last, so I called our our piano tuner.  He and his wife are on the tail end of homeschooling as their youngest is now 16.  He was so delighted with all the little kids in our house and he let them get up close to the inside of the piano.  He gave each of the kids a tool to use, and they screwed and unscrewed parts and found out how it all was put together.

It turns out a matchbox car was under one key, and a penny was making the other key stick.  I have no idea how the kids got a matchbox car stuck underneath the piano keys.  Our tuner friend said he'll let it slide this time, but as a rule of thumb, piano tuners get to keep whatever toys they find stuck inside the piano.

His excitement about this beautiful instrument was contagious with all my kids, and I just love that.  People who take the time to share their passion with a young child have the power to change someone's world.  Seriously.

Then the handle fell off our oven.  Then Knut figured out a quick coat-hanger styled handle just to make do until after harvest.  Then a week later the oven figured out it was being tricked and is beeping at me that the door is broken whenever it is plugged in.  So the stovetop still works, as long as I don't mind the constant beeping, and if we want the beeping to stop we have to unplug it.  So we may have yet another repair in our future.

The landscape in front of our house is changing a bit.  Slowly but surely.  This soy bean field just got dug up and prepped for next spring, except for the part Knut marked off with orange flags.  We're expanding our bottom yard, and converting it from a yard to a pasture.  I can't believe we're actually doing this!  Knut has been researching (in the last few months) the best type of grass to plant for animals, and it will get fenced off, and then...then we get some animals.  Most likely some steers, and possibly some dairy goats.  Don't forget David's pigs, but those would go in the woods, and not in the pasture.

We're getting bits of snow and bits of rain.  The kids are working out their costumes for tomorrow and we plan on visiting the grandparents and the retired bachelor brothers who we rent land from tomorrow night like we do every year.  Silje is putting a costume together with feathers and crepe paper and glue.  I hope it won't be raining.

My house looks like small bombs have gone off in each room by the time everyone heads off to bed each day and I have still not decided if that is a sign of a really good day or a really bad one.  I just cannot seem to stay ahead of it this time of year.

This harvest feels like it will not be done in the near future, and it feels like there is a constant stream of repairmen or farm vendors or hunters dropping by my house needing something, and Knut unfortunately drops by the house to say "hi" usually at the worst possible time.  Well, about half the time it turns out that way.  When I'm bringing a toddler to the toilet, or just got the baby to sleep, or finally got a kid focused on her history assignment.  What is worse is when he's too busy to stop by at all.  I need to get the kids out riding with him more often.

Then there's the mornings when Knut gets off to work before anyone in the house is awake.  Ingrid wakes up around 6 am when no one should really be awake so she comes and snuggles with me in bed.  Then about an hour later Silje climbs under the flannel sheets with Ingrid and I, and we lay awake and discuss all the deep thoughts we have about God and take turns making Ingrid giggle playing peek a boo.  It's a blessed, busy life right now.  I'm thankful I get to share it with you all today.

This is Just Silly

So today is the kids' library/chess club day.  So the internet guys at our house "fixed" it so it's working at 5% speed instead of 0% speed.  It makes dial up from high school look like light speed.  They were supposed to come and fix another part of it on Friday but didn't show up.  Knut called them and they said that they're going to have to make that Tuesday instead.  Today is Tuesday and I haven't seen them yet.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll come home from the library with lightening fast internet.  I'm not holding my breath.  We're looking into switching providers, which way out in the country is no small feat or small decision.

We do have the iPad to get online for little things, and that works when I'm standing in one corner of our house with my arm held up a certain way.  Yeah, cell towers in our area are under construction too...still.

So our house has become, as Knut dubbed it, "A Technology Retreat."  Now that's what I call spin.

It's snowing today.  We're playing Christmas music at home.  Don't judge.  It's awesome.

I'm finishing up a design for one of my favorite publications that will be come out in January.  It'll probably be off the needles today and I'm so thrilled with how it turned out.  I'm knitting like crazy with all this non-internet time.  Imagine that.

Solveig poops the first 5 minutes at the library.  Every. Single. Time.

Yes that's coffee in my hand.  It's actually a mocha.  No, they're not allowed in the library, but the children's librarian is full of grace to tired moms coming in with 5 children.  Plus I'm a rebel like that.  I have a brownie in my knitting bag too, so shhhhhh...

Yes, I brought Ingrid to the library in her pajamas.  I let my kids wear pajamas pretty much all the time their first year of life.  It's my gift to them.  I normally let them change into "real clothes" when we go out in public, but it was snowing, and this just seemed cozy.

Harvest is nearing the half way point, hence the extra need for mid-day coffee.  A propane shortage in our region has been slowing everything up, and bringing Knut home from work at decent hours.  However, a farmer home from the field due to logistical reasons in good weather is generally not a happy camper.

I now have to go through my kids' book pile, change a stinky diaper and start thinking about bringing Silje to choir.  So we'll see you later, internet friends.  I hope we'll be back online the other 95% soon.

Yarn Along

I've been so scatter brained in my knitting lately.  I pick up a bit of this, work a few rows, pick up a bit of something else, then after a few rows move to yet another one.

I'm working on a hat for Knut to match his mittens.  It needs to be redone for size reasons.  I knew it would have to, but it was confirmed.  The good thing is I now know exactly how I want some things to look, whereas before I was just sort of fooling around to see what would happen.

I'm working on a swatch for another magazine subscription.  I've had to switch cable patterns around so much in this swatch that I don't think I'll get it in by the deadline.  If I do I do.  If I don't I don't.  I've been on the fence about submitting this one for magazine publication, or self publishing it anyway.

You'd think I'd be sick of the red and white colors I used for Knut's Christmas mittens from last year, and his hat for this year, but no.  I ordered some fingering weight in the exact same colors for some fingerless mittens for myself.  I've been playing around with the color work for these mitts for some months, and I think I have it settled.  I've been redoing a bit of it as I go, and figuring out the thumb placement and everything.

Oh, and I'm working on yet another dress for one of the girls' Miss Maggie bunnies for Christmas.  I like having a small stockinette stitch plain, plain, plain project to stick in my purse for on the go.

I think Silje's catching on to what I'm making everyone for Christmas.  I don't have enough time to do it all at night.  She knows I normally don't work with this much pink and purple, nor am I usually pumping out doll sized dresses over and over.

As for reading, I've picked up "Kristin Lavransdatter" after taking the year off.  I have only the 3rd book in the trilogy left, and I'm just in the mood.  There's something about Fall that makes a story set in medieval Norway seem just right.

Linking up with Ginny again, for the Yarn Along.

Teacher Notes

I'm not sure how many times I've written on this blog "I've taken the t.v. away, and this time it's probably for good."  During the first month or two of this year's school I've let Elias and Solveig watch t.v. for an hour or two so I could do some much needed tutoring with the older kids without distraction. I always think it's a handy thing, but it always ends up being an enormous distraction.  David especially would always somehow manage to get into the playroom to "get something" and take 30 minutes to get back.  So many melt downs, so much time wasted, so many bad attitudes.

I know I've talked about getting rid of it for good, except the fact Knut and I sometimes like to watch movies at home for date night, and he likes to watch football games.  Sometimes we like to play up a big family movie night.  There are some fun parts to it, but it gets so abused so quickly that I just have to take it away.  Even little Solveig knows how to turn it on, and I can't spend my whole day playing goalie for the t.v.  So I disassemble some parts, remove some cords, and say, "Look, we need to remember how to play, and play nice."

Actually, this time Elias and Solveig didn't even notice it was gone until about the 4th day.  That made me happy.  During school times they worked on wooden puzzles a lot.  They like the draw on the easel, and of course, cut paper.  These 2 are sometimes thick as thieves, and make me laugh a lot.

For Christmas this year, Knut and I have talked about getting a smaller t.v. for the cabinets he just finished building in the den.  We could open the cabinet doors for those special occasions, or if we just want to chill and watch a movie after the kids are in bed.  However, when not in use, it would hide behind the cupboards and out of sight, and hopefully, out of mind.  We'll see.

I've been annoyed at the selection of movies to rent for the kids, though, for our family movie nights we have once or twice a month.  There's just so little out there that are any good.  Our internet has been so slow that streaming anything is impossible.  About 2 months ago, I bought "Little House on the Prairie, season 1" DVD set.  After reading through the series of books, Silje and David have really been enjoying this for our family movie nights.

Well, they'll enjoy it again maybe after Christmas.  I'm loving this no t.v. thing, and I don't anticipate bringing it back anytime before the new year for a family movie night.  Knut will likely put it back together to watch some football, and I'll just have to be super on top of taking it apart again when he's done.  I'm thinking that if we get a smaller cabinet t.v. this winter, we should just get rid of the old one in the basement.  It's big and ugly and cuts off all the scores in football anyway because it's not a wide screen.

Notable things that are happening in our homeschool:

--Silje's writing is becoming intensely good, and quickly climbing from her least favorite subject to her favorite.  Thank you, Institute for Writing Excellence.  It's amazing material.  Also, her spelling is actually gaining some traction for the first time, thanks to their "Phonetic Zoo" curriculum that we're trying out this year.  It's a lot more auditory work, and working towards mastery instead of a list a week.  This auditory stuff with her is really, really clicking, and many words she has spelled wrong for years are finally getting sorted out in her brain.

--David finished 2nd grade math, and is moving onto 3rd grade math at lightening speed.  I had the goal of having him finish his 2nd grade math by Christmas, and he wanted to beat it.  He's also been begging me to teach him to knit, so I've been doing a knitting class for both Silje and David.  It's been so fun, it deserves it's own post later.  At any rate, he does so much better now during our read aloud times, since he gets to knit while I read aloud.  I think it's probably super good addition to the "brain exercises" we do to help his eyes cross the mid-line as it uses both sides of the brain together.

--Elias and Solveig are so busy with their own play that I haven't been able to work on reading with him much.  He's been too busy playing teacher and teaching Solveig her alphabet.  I suppose that's good too.  He's not even kindergarten age anyway.  He's still really into drawing robots.  He draws better, and sings more than any other kid in this house at that age.  I can't wait until he can start choir at the center for the arts next year.  He'll just love it.

--Ingrid is into everything, all the time.  That pretty much sums it up.

Animal Hospital

Missy has had an eventful few days.  She was limping.  Knut was worried she was hit by a car, but the vet said it wasn't likely.  She's a big dog and has the typical hip issues, and she said it's likely related to that, as they think she slipped and fell, twisting her knee at some point.  She has a partially torn ligament in her right knee and has big rest orders for the next week or two.  I'm hoping she'll rest well, because if she doesn't she could blow her knee out completely.  We don't need that happening.

Everyone is doting on her from the chickens who stay as close as possible to where we have her set up, to the little baby kittens who are now able to venture outside on their own, to the kids who she snuggles against, and most especially by Silje who got her to take her medicine better than anyone else in the family.  Of course, no one is surprised by that.

Missy's rarely at a loss for company.

2 of the hens started laying yesterday.  I cannot even begin to describe to you the squeals that went through the house over the 2 tiny new eggs.  Since we lost our whole flock last spring, and have had so many losses while we were rebuilding the flock from scratch, and since we got Missy to take care of our predator issue...it feels like we're just getting there.

So I keep telling Missy she better rest well.  We need her too badly for her to get hurt like this.  We wouldn't have made it to laying age with the hens without her.

Country Wedding

Knut's cousin got married this last weekend.  It was a very country wedding.  I don't usually bring my camera to other people's events and blog about them, mostly because I don't want my friends and family to feel as though everything they say or do will end up on my blog.  However, the last few weddings we've been to, I really regretted not bringing my camera, or even writing about them because they were just so much fun, and so beautiful that it was worth sharing and remembering.

They got married at a little country church about 1/2 mile from our house.  We can see the steeple from our living room.  After the success with the pie crusts, I was feeling on top of the world physically, and thought maybe we could just walk to the church.  We were short on time, though, and so I suggested to Knut with a bit of hesitation that maybe we could just bike to the church, instead of drive.  He was super excited about that idea, so he hooked up the trailer for the little girls to my bike, and the 3rd wheel for Elias to his bike, and the 2 older kids rode their own.

I had to walk up the hills, and I was pretty beat when we got home.  It was a bit much.  It was a big eye opener to how out of shape I've gotten through this whole rest period from my injury.  1/2 mile bike ride should be no big deal for me, but it really was a big deal.  My goal is beginning to shift from healing to regaining strength lost.

This is one of the kids' second cousins.  She's a few months older than Ingrid and already her hair is down to her shoulders.  It's wild in such a fun way.

Here's Solveig and another second cousin.  It was fun listening to them chat to each other in their little voices and giggles.  I totally want to make the sweater coat that little L was wearing.  It looked vintage.

We biked home, and then drove to Knut's uncle's house, where the reception was in his barn.  We didn't bike even though it would have only been a mile bike.  This time we were carting food, and we knew I was physically done, and the party would go until after dark.  I had never been in their barn and it was so beautiful.

The boys were a bit squirrelly the whole afternoon, so we had to leave the reception to work on our manners a few times.

Inside was the stone foundation, seating on the floor and in the hay loft, lots of Christmas lights, apple cider, mason jars, a pot luck, and pies instead of cake.  Here's the happy couple.

After we ate the Tickwood Band set up with banjo, fiddle and all and we had ourselves a square dance when the sun went down.

Knut danced with the kids for awhile, while I stayed with the little ones, and then we switched.  Unfortunately I didn't get to dance with him myself and that might be my only regret.  The dancing was probably also a bit too much for me, but how often do you get a chance to square dance?

We left before the bonfire.  The kids were sleepy and my body was screaming that it was done.

A good time was had by all.

I'm Blessed

Yesterday during the sermon at church, our pastor talked about a moment he had outside, surrounded by beauty.  He reflected back to numerous art museums that he had walked through, and yet here he was, sitting right in the middle of God's art, like a 3 dimensional painting.  The very idea that we are not only living in God's artwork, but a part of it is just amazing.

We are witnesses of beauty.

I went for a walk when it was drizzling the other day.  I took one step outside and was so overwhelmed by the colors that I quickly ran back in to get my camera.  These shots are all straight out of the camera without any fiddling.  The colors of fall leave me speechless many times.  You just have to absorb the beauty of it as best as you can.

Missy and Lena got a bit dirty in the mud.  Missy obviously shows it more.  I don't know how she does it, but one day she'll play in the mud, and the next day she's pretty much white again.  It's a mystery. Rolling around in grass perhaps?

I wouldn't say I'm a fan of dirty things, but I am a fan of healthy things.  Sometimes dirty means unhealthy and uncared for.  Sometimes dirt is what we need and it feeds our soul and is actually very healthy.  I read this article once about how kids who play in the dirt often are on average healthier than kids who never play in the dirt.  How does the saying go?  Empty stalls require no cleaning, or something like that?  A dirty life can often show a full life.

Anyway, Missy's dirty.  Actually, she was dirty.  How she got clean again, I don't know.

I'm off topic.

So check out these colors from my drizzly walk.

Yesterday we got to go to a wedding.  Wedding these days are so unique, and this one had a really fun element of having a potluck in lieu of gifts.  I made a hot dish, and a pumpkin pie.  My recipe actually makes 2 pies, so we had to test one out the night before.

I just want to write about the tears I had when I was making the pies.  I love making pies, and I'm obviously out of practice because I used way too much flour, but they turned out delicious anyway.  It's just...I couldn't make pies this summer.  At the big 4th of July celebration, where everyone brings pies, (an event I love dearly) my mother in law offered to make my pies for me, since I was hurting so bad from the car accident.  Knut was shocked that I accepted.  I just love making pies so much.  I haven't been able to for months.  The motion of using my shoulders to push down a thin crust was just too painful.

I made pie.  It didn't hurt.  I can't do everything I used to do yet, but I can do this.  I feel so unbelievably blessed.

So we ate one pie.  It turns out our family is at the size where everyone gets a piece, and there is exactly 2 large pieces left over for Knut and I after the kids go to bed.  We brought the other pie to the wedding.  They had so many pies.  I was looking for a piece of mine, but couldn't find one.  After the reception, and we were gathering up our things, I went to get our dishes to bring home, and it turns out they cut my pie, but it was in the back of the pile, so it never actually got set out for people to try.

So we had to take our whole pie home.  I know...terrible right?  Bonus pie.

The soy beans are done.  Today they're going to try to start corn.  The view outside our house has changed so much.  I couldn't help but take this pretty picture (above) at dusk.

My view at dawn the next morning was pretty much the same.  Except, of course, with Missy in my view, staring through our window and seeing the lights come on inside the house.  She has shelter.  She prefers to sleep under the stars, where she can keep watch better.

With the rain, and Knut getting to be home, it was such a peaceful, cozy weekend.  I'm blessed.

179 Pairs of Socks and Other Random Facts

David just turned 8.  We had a very low-key party.  A few cousins, a chocolate cake from a box, and balloons to bounce around.  He said it was the best day ever.  He's pretty easy to please when it comes to parties.

Last Spring, when the cold weather started to fade and it was warm enough to wear sandals, I stopped pairing up socks when doing laundry, and just threw them all into a laundry basket to get all sorted before winter.  I never did.  It sat in our bedroom...the hundreds of unmatched socks.  Now the weather is turning cold and we need socks.

So I asked Silje and David if they wanted to make some money.  I would offer a penny for every pair of socks they folded together.  David gave up after about 5 pairs.  Silje pressed on and finished. Afterward we counted up for her money.  179 pairs of socks, plus a few spares.  I just gave her $2.  Best money I've spent in awhile.  It was better than just going to the store and buying everyone a new package of socks, which I seriously contemplated doing.

I'm pretty sure I haven't bought 179 pairs of socks.  I have no idea where they all came from.  My father-in-law was right when we bought this house from them.  He said this house is a vacuum that collects things at light-breaking speeds.  I have no idea where half of my kids' toys come from.  Why do we even have that many pairs of socks?  That's 25.57 pairs of socks per person in this household.  That's not even counting the ones I threw away because they had holes.  Something needs to change.

I hate socks.  I can deal with the snow of winter.  I can deal with the cold.  I can deal with pretty much all of it.  But I hate socks.  Sandals are by far my favorite part of summer, and I will miss it.

I had some mom friends out last night.  We laughed together so much.  That was fun.  Knut didn't get home until 3:30 am.  Soy beans are basically done now.  "Just" the corn left.  Rain came again today, so it will give a little breather before that starts.

Elias is really into drawing these days.  Actually, I've been quite impressed with some of them.  He turns 5 next month, but with crayons he shades and shows action through his drawing in some pretty insightful ways.  He's also had robots on the brain lately as well.  Just like David did, he still rotates between using his left hand and his right hand.  We'll see where that ends up.  I know David ended up being a lefty (except for sports, which is ironically the opposite of Knut who is a righty, except in sports he's a lefty).  For now he likes using both hands.  So we'll see.

Yarn Along

During my day in the cities, I brought along some easy knitting.  I finished up the main portion of a little dress for Solveig's "Miss Maggie" bunny that I'm making for Christmas.  I have the big dream of making a Miss Maggie for each of the girls for Christmas, as well as a few wardrobe items for each bunny.  The kids and I are striving for a handmade present exchange this Christmas, just within our household.  Knut has the tradition of giving each of the kids a book, with a yearly handwritten letter to each of them, so we don't expect him to make all the books by hand.  :)

I'm also starting/finishing some baby booties for a friend.  These ones are so fast that starting and finishing happens basically in 1-2 days.  I just love the LoveBug pattern.  This is my 3rd time using it.  I ordered some of Quince and Co's new color "Belize" to see how I liked it.  I love it.  It may pass up as my favorite color by them, trumping Bird's Egg.  I've been wanting them to come out with an aqua-like color, and this one is consistent with their muted palette, and has this pretty milkiness to the shade.  I must figure out what else I can make with it, and soon.

The kids and I have started reading a biography of Corrie Ten Boom.  We're starting to hit some difficult places in history in school.  They're asking many questions that I cannot answer, or at least answer well.  All I can do is tell these stories, and discuss the humanness in all of us.

Linking up with Ginny today for her Yarn Along, where we all like to talk about what we're knitting and reading.

Missy

Sigh.  Our internet isn't working again today.  I don't know why.  Fortunately it's the kids' library/chess club day.  So I get to write.

Poor Missy has had to be tied up for way too long.  We've had some rain, or chances for storms.  We learned right away that lightening makes her run blindly and fast in any direction.  So we keep her down in the barn.  When the weather is nice, we keep her on her long cord outside because we've had some contractors working on the grain bins to finish up work before harvest.  She can't be around wet cement, or large holes, or be underfoot.  She's so curious about everything which is good.  It's just been a bit of time where she can't just be herself on the property.  So I've been trying to carve out at least an hour each day to just let her run and burn off some of that energy.  I can't always do it, but I try.

I love the time outside with Missy.  The weather is just so perfect.  The colors in the field are changing daily.  Fall is pretty darn close to my favorite season.  It might be tied with winter.  Knut and I get so excited every year for when the weather gets cold enough to start running the fireplace around the clock.

Then harvest started.  That's always a huge praise.  That changes the landscape in a hurry as well.  Unpredictable schedules have taken over.  That part is hard.  The good part is that Missy loves harvest. She hasn't had to be tied up at all during this new season.  Whenever we have put her in the barn, she has about an hour or two of getting into stuff she shouldn't, and then she gets to business.  All during this season she's been staying in the yard, and watching the semi-trucks come up our driveway filled with grain.  She knows the trucks and the drivers now, and only stands up to investigate if it's someone unusual...like the internet guys.

I was worried that she would be in the way of harvest, or slow up the semis.  It's been just the opposite. It's almost like she senses the importance, and is determined to lend a hand...or paw.  She doesn't stray far from the house when harvest is running.  She feels the need to keep an eye on us during the ruckus.

On the exciting side, besides harvest, it feels as though we're on the verge of actually doing some things to our property that we have only been talking about for the last few years.  We are talking about moving our vegetable garden to a new location next year, and adding even more animals.  I know, new cats and a new dog and a few more chickens weren't enough?  Knut really wants to turn half of our yard into pasture.  He spends hours each week mowing, and it seems a waste of resources, both time and money.  We want a couple of steers, and I would love a few dairy goats.  David really wants to get some pigs and we've been talking about fencing up our woods for that purpose.  Silje really wants some rabbits just for fun, but we wanted to wait until we had a few animals in the barn so they wouldn't be alone there.

So a few weekends ago, Silje and I did a lot of vegetable bed planning and this week we hope to tie up strings marking off our new vegetable garden so on a day when they can't harvest, Knut can bring the tiller and till up our new beds.  Then we'll add some compost, and let it rest until spring.  We're planning more of a French style garden, with walkways and patches rather than the long rows we've been doing so far.

We got a new gardening book on companion gardening, which is really fascinating.  This book has answered so many questions of why certain garden crops have been failing these last few years.  (Besides the fact I'm horrible at weeding.)  This last year I planted dill by the carrots, which is a big no-no.  I also put my Brussel sprouts by the tomatoes, which is also horrible.  Really I've just been sticking things in the ground and hoping for the best, which worked for a few years, but we've now had 2 years of failed pea crops and 2 years of failed squash, and this book is answering a lot of questions as to why, and things I can do to make sure that doesn't happen again.

We read in this book why our apple trees have been failing.  We just planted a few more replacements this last spring, and we'll probably leave them since they are well rooted.  The ones that were there before mysteriously died.  We couldn't figure out what happened.  There were no outbreak of bugs or disease.  They just died.

Well, it turns out, that happens often when you plant fruit trees by a black walnut tree.  The black walnut tree has always been there, and the apple orchard was always there.  In the gardening world these 2 types of trees are not very friendly with each other.  While we know the apple trees that are there now will have a shorter lifespan because of this, we're just going to leave them be, and then if we want to plant more fruit trees, we'll look to anther area of the property: far away from the black walnut.

Anyway, by these trees is where our new garden is going.  It will be fenced from the chickens whose coop is nearby.  It will still have a lot of sunlight, though it's not as exposed to the elements with the trees around.  Our other garden is very exposed to wind, and that has caused some problems.  We have well established strawberries, raspberries and asparagus in our old garden location, so we plan to leave those there and let them expand.  Everything else is moving up to the new location.

In all reality, we haven't been doing bad since our freezer is already full of garden goodness for the winter.  So trying and "failing" hasn't been that silly.  I'm excited for the new venture in this area.  I'm not sure if it's exciting enough to entice me to weed more, but you never know.  Miracles do happen.

I'm Blessed

Well, after over a week of no internet, the internet guys just left and it is pretty much fixed.  It's super slow, but we got a new router that should help once Knut gets it set up.  He's going to cut up some firewood first.  Country internet is complicated.  I guess this time our box was hit by lightening, and we needed to re-cord the house as the internet cords got fried.  So just in time for my traditional Monday pick me up of counting my blessings, here we go:

OK, this is a horrible picture of me, but it commemorates a really fun day.  Yesterday I got a day off of routine.  I did several crazy things, in fact.  First, we left the farm during harvest.  People just don't do that.  The fact that it was raining buckets (making harvesting impossible) helped.  (Well, helped me to go.  It certainly didn't help harvest.  Hopefully we'll get some sunshine and wind the next few days.) The fact that it was a Sunday, and Knut never works on Sundays made this plan work.

I've been following this online competition called "The Fiber Factor" where knitting designers compete much in a "Project Runway" fashion.  When I found out that challenge 5 for the designers in the competition would be judged at a yarn studio about 3 hours from our farm, I just knew I wanted to go see the judging live.  When I found out that the former editor of Knitscene, (who has just been promoted to the editor of "Interweave Knits" magazine) was going to be one of the judges, I just wanted it even more.  Pictured above is the woman who put my design on the cover of the Winter 2012 issue of "Knitscene".  I would absolutely love to work with her again, and I really wanted to meet her face to face.  It was so exciting to chat with her for a little bit.

It all worked out because one of my friends from a knitting group offered to watch Ingrid as part of an army of people required for this mom of 5 to take the day off.  Her husband was running the marathon in the same city, and she said she could hold Ingrid while I attended the event.  I agreed, and told Knut that the biggest part of the puzzle to get out there was in place.  Now to just find spots for the other 4 kids to go.

At that point, Knut saw how desperately I wanted to go, and said, "Why don't we all go to the cities?" and he watched all 5 kids at his aunt's house for the day, about 30 minutes from the studio I was at.  I actually didn't need my friend's help after all, but without even knowing, she made it happen.

Meeting Lisa (above..the editor) was a thrill.  I also met StevenBe, who owned the studio, and was just wild.  That was a thrill.  I met the CEO of Skacel yarn.  I also got to meet the creative director of Skacel yarn, (Cirilia Rose) whose design work I simply love:

Ugh, I hate this picture of me too.  Ugh.  I'm having some image issues of late that maybe sometime I'll write about.  I think I enjoy being the one taking pictures better.  Anyway, she was so much fun, and I felt like a bit of a groupie talking with her.  She liked my vintage skirt, and I liked her vintage dress, and she asked if my sweater was made with Quince yarn in the color peacock, and I said, yes as a matter of fact, it is.  Then she said she thought so because she has some of that in her personal stash too.

It was awesome.  She leaned down for this picture as she's tall and I'm...not.

The fashion show was so much fun.  Watching the judging was fun, and I'll be good and not give spoilers out on the internet on who won before the show goes live.

Another amazing part of the day was sitting next to this lady:

This is StevenBe's mom.  My name was placed next to hers at the luncheon, so I got to sit and eat with this incredible woman.  She owns a little yarn shop and teaches knitting classes.  Through her son's artwork, she got connected up with Jennifer Aniston and has done some custom knitting for her.  She asked about my family, and somehow we got to the topic of how Knut likes to ski, and I'm often knitting by the fire.  She smiled and said, "You and your husband remind me of my old friend Elizabeth, and her husband.  That was them.  He would ski, and she would knit, and write about knitting.

"Oh, really?"  I said.
"Yes, " she said in her thick German accent. "You may have heard of her.  Elizabeth Zimmerman?"

Elizabeth Zimmerman.  Seriously?!?  She said I reminded her of Elizabeth for various reasons.  Can there be a bigger compliment to give a knitter?  I guess they were both from Germany and emigrated around the same time and were friends, teaching knitting: one in Wisconsin, the other in Minnesota.

Oh, this was a fun lady to meet.  She gave me some timeless, good advice for my design business and really spoke to my heart.  For this woman, it's not about the money.  For her, it's about the love of the craft and passing on the tradition of knitting.  She really made me feel valued as a mother, and encouraged me to soak that up.

I feel so blessed that Knut made this happen for me.  I'm so blessed I got to meet a huge number of amazing people and experience some amazing art in a whole new way.  I got to see so much, and learn so much, and the food was amazing and the swag bags were generous.  I feel totally pampered.

Plus, you know what?  After all that, I returned to normal life today, teaching my kids, making lunch, and snuggling babies to sleep.  Even though yesterday was so much fun, I feel overwhelmed with the thought that in my regular, ordinary life... I'm not missing anything.  I love this mom job, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I'm blessed.